Sunday, 7 February 2010

A Bulawayo based community radio initiative, Radio Dialogue has released a press statement saying it is losing patience with government over its failure to provide a broadcasting licence.

Speaking at a press conference held after the handover of the Radio Dialogue constitutional report activities to the parliamentary select committee(COPAC) on Saturday at Bulawayo Rainbow hotel, chairperson of the Radio Dialogue Trust, Peter Zwide Khumalo said the inclusive government has failed to liberate the media.

Khumalo said failure to provide radio licences is testimony that the government cannot fulfill the Global Political Agreement.

"For five years now Radio Dialogue has been meeting with government on the issue of community radio licensing," Khumalo told the conference, "The GPA brought great hope that, at last, licences would be issued. For sixteen months now the people of Bulawayo have been waiting the Inclusive Government to fulfil its promises. But this has been in vain."

Khumalo was reiterating the words of the executive director of Radio Dialogue Nigel Johnson who said the GPA is not working.

"Article 19 makes it clear that all licences , all applications will be processed immediately," Johnson said, "This was signed by Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara. They all signed that they will process applications immediately but it hasn't happened."

Khumalo also criticised the ministry of media, information and publicity for its failure to constitute a legitimate broadcasting authority.He said the ministry is in a state of confusion.

"The Minister unilaterally appointed members to BAZ," he said, "These appointments were immediately rejected by the Deputy Minister and subsequently by the Prime Minister."

Creative-Radio is an independent forum for people active in or interested in the use of radio in development, in particular promoting public health, improved education, protection of the environment, improved livelihoods, good governance and conflict mitigation. Since it started in 1996, Creative-Radio has been in the forefront of radio's resurgence as a tool for social change and peace-building, and it helps promote best practice in these areas.

6WR Waringarri Radio 693AM - The Voice of the East Kimberley, Western Australia http://ow.ly/14UkU

Waringarri Radio 6WR broadcasts the latest music, news, weather and community information over a 300km radius in the remote East Kimberley region of Far North Western Australia. Our powerful coverage includes Kununurra, Wyndham, Warmun, Oombulgurri, El Questro, Argyle Mine and Timber Creek.

RT @Northern_Clips: 6WR Waringarri Radio oldest #Aboriginal-owned community #radio station http://ow.ly/14UgO in Western #Australia

[excerpt]

The Voice of the East Kimberley now faces an uncertain future.

A lightning storm recently knocked out one of the four modules on the 5-kilowatt transmitter of Kununurra's 6WR Waringarri Radio in Western Australia's northern Kimberley region.

But it didn't faze the station's manager Colin Cameron, a jack of all trades in the radio business, who walked the 500m down the road to fix it himself.

The storm was not enough to take "The Voice of the East Kimberley", Western Australia's oldest indigenous radio station, off the air. But it brought back memories for Mr Cameron, 73, of when the station's board had called him in February 2002 when lighting had taken out the transmitter completely and 6WR had been off the air for 47 days.

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The veteran radio broadcaster, manager and station owner quickly got the station up and running again and the board soon asked him if he would like to stay permanently.

"The station was in survival mode when I arrived, it needed tender loving care," Mr Cameron said. More than eight years later and with the help of dedicated presenters and local volunteers, 6WR continues to broadcast to towns and remote communities in a 300km radius around Kununurra, including Oombulgurri to the northwest, El Questro station to the south, and over the border to Timber Creek in the Northern Territory.

There are also FM translators at the Argyle mine, Wyndham, Warmun and Kalumburu.

Established in 1987, 6WR was the first Aboriginal-owned community radio station in the Kimberley and continues to be the only station with its studios and administration in Kununurra.

Creative-Radio is an independent forum for people active in or interested in the use of radio in development, in particular promoting public health, improved education, protection of the environment, improved livelihoods, good governance and conflict mitigation. Since it started in 1996, Creative-Radio has been in the forefront of radio's resurgence as a tool for social change and peace-building, and it helps promote best practice in these areas.

The Community Media Association (CMA) <http://www.commedia.org.uk/> has started this photo blog for 2010 but we need your help. We would like you to send us photos of your community project that we will publish on "Community Media 365″. Every day in 2010 we will post to this blog an image relating to community media so that over the course of 2010 together we will build a rich visual picture of the community media sector.

All images are welcome – whether it's a picture of the stapler on your desk or a visit to your project by a campaigning politician; a photo of your staff team or the view from your window. Obviously the more photos we can get from you the better chance we have of this project succeeding. The CMA will also post the odd picture up so you will get a chance to see some of us at work.

We can handle all digital photo file formats but sending jpegs will mean less work for us to convert them. We can also scale down pictures so hi-res photos are fine. When sending photos from a mobile phone try to set the highest resolution possible. Please ensure that all photos are suitable for publishing on the web in terms of rights clearance and privacy.

We will continue to make calls throughout the year for photos so just keep them coming. We hope to feature as wide a spread of your projects as possible but the more good photos that you send us the better the chances are of your organisation featuring several times.

*** The Community Media Association is the UK representative body for the Community Media sector and we are committed to promoting access to the media for people and communities. We enable people to establish and develop community based communications media for empowerment, cultural expression, information and entertainment.

*Background *Founded in 1983, the CMA is a non-profit making organisation, supporting community radio, local television and community-based internet projects. We represent the interests of the community media sector Government, industry and regulatory bodies.

Membership currently exceeds 600, bringing together established organisations, aspirant groups and individuals within the sector. The CMA provides a range of advice, information and consultancy, offering support to anyone with an interest in the sector.

Creative-Radio is an independent forum for people active in or interested in the use of radio in development, in particular promoting public health, improved education, protection of the environment, improved livelihoods, good governance and conflict mitigation. Since it started in 1996, Creative-Radio has been in the forefront of radio's resurgence as a tool for social change and peace-building, and it helps promote best practice in these areas.

About

The Community Media Association (CMA) has started this photo blog for 2010 but we need your help. We would like you to send us photos of your community project that we will publish on "Community Media 365″. Every day in 2010 we will post to this blog an image relating to community media so that over the course of 2010 together we will build a rich visual picture of the community media sector.

All images are welcome – whether it's a picture of the stapler on your desk or a visit to your project by a campaigning politician; a photo of your staff team or the view from your window. Obviously the more photos we can get from you the better chance we have of this project succeeding. The CMA will also post the odd picture up so you will get a chance to see some of us at work.

We can handle all digital photo file formats but sending jpegs will mean less work for us to convert them. We can also scale down pictures so hi-res photos are fine. When sending photos from a mobile phone try to set the highest resolution possible. Please ensure that all photos are suitable for publishing on the web in terms of rights clearance and privacy.

We will continue to make calls throughout the year for photos so just keep them coming. We hope to feature as wide a spread of your projects as possible but the more good photos that you send us the better the chances are of your organisation featuring several times.

***The Community Media Association is the UK representative body for the Community Media sector and we are committed to promoting access to the media for people and communities. We enable people to establish and develop community based communications media for empowerment, cultural expression, information and entertainment.

BackgroundFounded in 1983, the CMA is a non-profit making organisation, supporting community radio, local television and community-based internet projects. We represent the interests of the community media sector Government, industry and regulatory bodies.

Membership currently exceeds 600, bringing together established organisations, aspirant groups and individuals within the sector. The CMA provides a range of advice, information and consultancy, offering support to anyone with an interest in the sector.

"In any emergency, the first priority is the delivery of critical aid. But communities need more than that. They also need information. It's critical for them to know where they can get water, where they can get certain facilities, how to access those medical centres." – Internews Humanitarian Coordinator Jacobo Quintanilla

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